“We still have many things to ascertain about the post-covid months, starting from the fact that post-covid has cardiac consequences and remembering that 23 million Italians have had the disease”.
Thus infectious disease specialist Massimo Galli at the conference in Naples on “Long covid” promoted by Farmaceutici Damor. According to a British study, in the 5 months after having had covid, 4,8% of those recovering from the disease suffered cardiac complications, three times more than what happens without covid.
A topic that Massimo Volpe, president of the Italian Society for Cardiovascular Prevention (Siprec) and director of Cardiology at Sapienza University in Rome, is working on: “There is also – he explains – a study carried out by colleagues in the USA, collecting data from 1.200.000 people post-covid and discovering that cardiovascular diseases in them have increased 4 times.
We now know that Sars Cov 2 disease is not only respiratory but also attacks the lining of the vessels and causes clinical consequences in some people. During covid there was less prevention, but now knowing that there is a risk, the cardiovascular part must be monitored, especially in those with diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol. We still know little about the relationship between viral diseases and cardiology but certainly inflammation from covid is a powerful indicator of cardiovascular disease”.
For Ugo Trama, head of drug policies for the Campania Region and on the front line during the two years of the pandemic explosion, "covid is not in the acute phase today but is under observation. Today we talk about long covid by observing the pathologies concomitant with covid or pre-existing ones that are exacerbating.
What is needed for this is a territorial take-over that can be a solution. We must also remember that there was also a lack of healthcare observation at the peak of covid and now we must react on cardiovascular chronicity. Science makes a great contribution but the great response is put in place by the territory through doctors and the ASL”.
A territoriality that the health councilor of the Municipality of Naples Vincenzo Santagada also focuses on: "The situation is calm - he says - but we must continue to get vaccinated and use protective devices even if they are not mandatory. Now we are entering the flu phase and it is suggested that chronic patients and those over 60 also get the flu vaccine, to prevent difficult conditions in fragile subjects".
Paths to keep an eye on, as Galli underlines: "After the Spanish flu a century ago there was also the syndrome of forgetting about it. In Italy there are various forces that tend to take away the memory, while we still have a lot to understand about long covid and make sure that in Italy we do not forget the disease and remain organized to avoid a recurrence".
Article published on 20 October 2022 - 20:40
